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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507706">Heartbreaker</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyMayura/pseuds/MyMayura'>MyMayura</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akuma Attack, Akumatized Nathalie Sancoeur, Butterfly Miraculous, Canon Divergence, F/M, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Redemption, Kwami Swap, Original Akuma, gabenath mini bang, gabenath mini bang 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:42:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,965</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyMayura/pseuds/MyMayura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel’s most recent plan backfires spectacularly, changing the game in a major way. With the world seemingly collapsing around him, the situation becomes even worse as Nathalie is akumatized into an out-of-control villain, hellbent on breaking his heart. When the chance to make things right appears, will Gabriel rise to the challenge? Or are his growing feelings too much for him to handle?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>146</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>GabeNath Book Club and Art Club Server, GabeNath Mini Bang 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I had the most wonderful time writing this for the <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GabeNath_Mini_Bang_2020">GabeNath Mini Bang</a>. A big thank you to <a href="https://gabriel-fucking-agreste.tumblr.com">gabriel-fucking-agreste</a> for the incredible <a href="https://gabriel-fucking-agreste.tumblr.com/post/620100166282805248/heartbreaker-by-mymayura-heres-the-art-for-this">art</a> and to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReminiscentLullaby/pseuds/ReminiscentLullaby">ReminiscentLullaby</a> for beta reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> You're a heartbreaker </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Dream maker, a love taker </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Don't you mess around with me </em>
</p><p>💔</p><p>A torturous bead of sweat works its way around Gabriel’s collar and down his back as he punches in a code that he’s only entered a handful of times. The sweltering heat combined with the exertion of his hurried steps squeeze his chest uncomfortably, but once he pushes through the apartment complex’s front door, he moves his tired legs up the stairs, not wanting to waste a single second waiting for the elevator to descend from its place on the top floor. </p><p>Nathalie’s apartment is only two floors up, but it’s enough to make his already worn-out quads ache and to coax another drop of sweat out from the skin on the back of his neck. His discomfort threatens to distract him, but he ultimately ignores it as he leaps up the stairs two at a time. He rushes to Nathalie’s door and knocks with urgency.</p><p>“Nathalie, it’s me,” he announces breathlessly. After his efforts yield no results, he pulls out his phone to make sure he hasn’t missed anything. His many texts and calls are still unanswered.</p><p>He leans back as his exhaustion catches up with him. He groans and slides down the wall, his anxiety and desperation pulling him down. It’s extremely unlike Nathalie to not answer her phone, and if she’s not at her apartment, he can only assume the worst: she was caught. She’s likely sitting in a police station now, being held for her crimes as Mayura.</p><p>If the guilt of putting her in that situation wasn’t enough, Gabriel fears for his own identity. While he doubts that Nathalie would ever give him up willingly, the police are likely to make the connection due to their association with one another. How much time does he have until they come knocking at his own door?</p><p>Gabriel thunks his head back against the wall. “Nathalie, please. If you’re in there…” He waits once more, but there is no response. With no sign of her and no new ideas, Gabriel decides to call her once more. For a moment, he wonders if that’s a good idea considering the circumstances, but ultimately, he’ll be implicated either way if she has been caught. He taps on her name, decision made, and brings the phone up to his ear.</p><p>Immediately, he finds the ring to have an odd echo in this hallway, enough to make him bring his phone down to listen. With a jolt, he realizes that the sound is coming from Nathalie’s apartment. He jumps to his feet. She’s inside. Or at the very least, her phone is.</p><p>He hears a muffled curse and the ringing stops. The thunderous beating of his heart fills in the silence.</p><p>“Nathalie,” he tries again, knocking sharply. “Are you in there?”</p><p>She doesn’t answer him, but his ears pick up on a distressed sound.</p><p>He wonders if she might be under threat. “I’m going to assume you’re somehow incapacitated.” He assesses his options, looking out the window of the hallway. He doesn’t have his miraculous at the moment, but the ledge is quite wide. It wouldn’t take much effort to make it to her apartment. “I’m coming around to your window.”</p><p>“No, don’t,” he hears on the other side, though he has to strain to pick it up, as she nearly whispers it. The floor creaks and the door finally unlocks.</p><p>She pulls it open slowly, revealing a head tilted downwards and away from him.</p><p>“What happened?” he demands, lifting her chin to see her better. Her face is red and splotchy, and she refuses to meet his eyes. She isn’t wearing her glasses. He stares for a moment before breaking his trance. He looks to make sure there’s no one behind them, and he ushers her inside, inviting himself in after her.</p><p>“Are you hurt?” he asks, grabbing her wrist to check her arm for bruises. She yanks it away from him, shaking her head.</p><p>“No,” she says, sniffing. She blinks rapidly and straightens up in an apparent attempt to look as if nothing is wrong, but Gabriel can see right through her. In all the years he’s known her, Gabriel has never seen Nathalie cry, not even once. If she’s been moved to this point, something terrible must have passed.</p><p>“Did the akuma catch you with the miraculous? Was your identity compromised?”</p><p>“No, but —”</p><p>“Good,” he sighs, relieved. He holds his hand out. “Give me the Butterfly.”</p><p>Her lip trembles, the only movement on her stiffly-held body.</p><p>“Nathalie,” he says, sharper. “The miraculous.”</p><p>Water begins to brim up in her eyes, and she looks away from him. “I can’t,” she whispers.</p><p>He doesn’t at all understand what has transpired, but he has the sinking feeling that it’s nothing good. “Why not?” he asks, imbuing his glare with as much danger as he can muster up. “Did you not return for them after the heroes defeated my akuma?”</p><p>“I did,” she says. “But…” She takes a step back from him. She fails to maintain eye contact as she confesses, “They were gone.”</p><p>“Gone,” he repeats back to her hollowly. He reaches out to steady himself against the wall. His entire body feels weak. “You mean to say…”</p><p>“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she gasps, losing air on each pained syllable. “I was ambushed. I barely got them out of my possession in time.” Gabriel can only stare blankly, and Nathalie takes a step forward, clearly bothered by his unresponsiveness. He jerks away from her, and she stops in her tracks. “I was hit by the akuma and I suppose I joined his mob.” Her head drops down. “When I woke up, I was practically on the other side of the city. I rushed there as soon as I could, but anything could have happened in that time. I have no idea how they were found or who has them now.”</p><p>Feeling begins to return to Gabriel, along with quick, hot anger. “How could you make such a foolish mistake?” he seethes, pushing himself off the wall. Nathalie takes stumbling steps away from him. “You should have taken them to our agreed upon spot!”</p><p>“Sir, I tried,” she pleads. “I didn’t have a choice; the akuma cut me off. Think about it: it would have been worse if he had found them on my person. We’re fortunate that at least our identities are secure.”</p><p>“Fortunate? <em> Fortunate?” </em> he roars. He grabs her by the shoulders and leans in close to her face, piercing her with his glare. “Your mistake has cost me everything. Without those miraculous, it’s all been for nothing. And Emilie—” He cuts off, choked by the realization that there is no way to bring his wife back now. She’s gone forever.</p><p>He staggers away from Nathalie, releasing her just as quickly as he had taken hold of her. “Oh, Emilie,” he moans with grief. He collapses onto the loveseat and buries his face in the cushions as his heart squeezes and twists in his chest and his eyes burn.</p><p>The cushions beneath him shift ever so slightly as Nathalie sits down at the other end.</p><p>Minutes pass in silence. Gabriel breathes heavily, pushing back any tears that threaten to rise, and Nathalie sits as still as a statue. Eventually, the couch creaks as she takes a tentative scoot towards him. “You have to know… I did everything I could,” she says. “Please tell me you believe me.” He chokes, unable to answer, and Nathalie lets out a strangled sound of her own. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t—”</p><p>“I know,” he finally manages, turning to look at her. Sadness overwhelms him, but his temper has cooled, leaving him feeling ashamed for his earlier actions, especially as he takes note of the tears clinging to her lashes and the dejected slump of her shoulders. “You’ve been an incredible ally. I know that this fight has not been easy on you.”</p><p>“It hasn’t,” she agrees. “But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Gabriel lets out a breath that he’s been holding in, and Nathalie turns her body to face him better. “It’s been so long, Gabriel,” she marvels. “What do we even do now?” She seems impossibly small, so different from her typically tall stature.</p><p>Gabriel clenches his jaw and searches her face for answers, having none of his own. But for once, Nathalie is at a loss as well.</p><p>He thinks, trying to cling to any thread that may lead them back to the miraculous. “Do you know anything about where the miraculous could be now?” he asks desperately. “Did the akuma take them?”</p><p>She shakes her head. “If I knew anything, I would have told you.” Her eyes are downcast, defeated.</p><p>“Nathalie,” he presses.</p><p>“I don’t<em> know, </em>sir. It seems unlikely; we renounced them and they were not on my person, so the akuma shouldn’t have been able to track them down. My best guess is that someone else came along and found them.” She buries her head in her hands. “I keep going back over it, wondering if there’s something I missed, anything that could help. But there’s nothing. It’s useless.”</p><p>“Perhaps if we wait long enough, something will come up,” Gabriel proposes, oddly finding himself trying to raise her spirits as well as his own. “They were camouflaged, after all; they could end up in a pawn shop somewhere if the thief is unaware of their true power. We could—” He cuts off, aware that the scenarios he is coming up with are extremely far-fetched. Nathalie looks at him with pity and remorse. “There’s no hope, is there?”</p><p>“It seems unlikely,” she says gently, but as delicate as she is in saying so, her words still shatter him.</p><p>“So I really have lost everything,” he says bitterly.</p><p>“Don’t say that,” Nathalie says, wincing. “Sir, think of Adrien.”</p><p>“What do you think I’ve been doing?” he bites back, annoyed at her for policing his feelings. Her sympathetic look suddenly seems condescending to him, wounding his pride. “The boy will never get his mother back. I’ve failed him.”</p><p>“You’ve only failed him if you give up on him,” she argues. “I know this is a terrible thing that has happened. I know that it will take time to recover. I’ll never be able to apologize enough. But Gabriel, you must try. He needs you.”</p><p>“He needs his mother.”</p><p>“All the more reason he can’t lose his father too.” Gabriel looks down at his hands, angrily searching for a response that he can’t find. “This will be difficult for you,” she acknowledges. She pauses for a moment. “But... maybe there is a silver lining.”</p><p>Gabriel’s head snaps back up. <em> “What?” </em></p><p>Nathalie seems to find his response to be an invitation to expand, rather than the warning it is meant to be. “You’ve often lamented that being Papillon makes it hard to spend time with him,” she explains slowly. “Now, you can focus on improving your relationship.”</p><p>Gabriel springs to his feet. “How <em> dare </em>you?” he snarls, disbelieving that Nathalie could be so callous about his loss.</p><p>“Sir, I—”</p><p>“There is no silver lining here. My wife is as good as <em> dead </em>and my son is a reminder of that!”</p><p>Nathalie recoils. “Don’t. If you must be angry, be angry with me. Adrien has done nothing wrong.”</p><p>“It makes no difference what Adrien has or hasn’t done,” he spits back. “As for the loss of the miraculous, I see the situation with more clarity now. It seems to me that you did lose them on purpose after all.”</p><p>Nathalie jumps to her feet in protest. “I would never. Of all the ways — if I wanted to sabotage you, there are a thousand better ways I could have done it before now. I don’t know what else to say to you. I feel terrible, but none of this was intentional.”</p><p>His eyes narrow. “I don’t believe you. How can I when you have broken my trust so deeply?”</p><p>“Do you even hear yourself?” she demands. “I <em> warned </em>you that it was too dangerous of a plan. I can’t comprehend how you thought a miraculous-tracking akuma was a good idea when it could just as easily target us as the heroes. I did everything I possibly could to dissuade your frankly idiotic gamble, and you still want me to shoulder the blame for it. I won’t do it. Not this time.”</p><p>Gabriel grinds his teeth. “You will not talk to me that way, Nathalie.”</p><p>Nathalie squares her shoulders at him. “There are many things that I will allow without complaint, but accusations of betrayal are a step too far, <em> sir.” </em></p><p>“Let me be clear,” Gabriel says, using his height to his full advantage to loom over her. “I am your boss, and as your boss, I am telling you to stay in your place.”</p><p>Her eyebrows shoot up, but in no way do they diminish the intense heat in her eyes. “In that case, you are no longer my boss.”</p><p>Gabriel stops, then scoffs. “You can’t be—”</p><p>“You’ve used me for the last time, Gabriel. Get out of my apartment.” In just a second, Nathalie’s fire has turned to ice. “I quit.”</p><p>For a moment, Gabriel’s own fire is extinguished by his shock. But it quickly builds back up, becoming even hotter than before with Nathalie’s final betrayal. “If you do this, I will ensure that you never work in this industry again.”</p><p>“All the better,” she retorts. “Now go, or I call the police. I’m sure I have plenty of stories they’d be salivating to hear.”</p><p>“You’d incriminate yourself. You’re bluffing.”</p><p>“Am I?” she asks, raising a single brow. He really isn’t sure, which infuriates him all the more.</p><p>“Fine,” he growls. He gives her one last glare, half expecting her to budge. She doesn’t.</p><p>He crumples inside with the realization that she won’t stand down. He takes one more second to memorize her features before he catches himself and realizes what he’s doing. Shaking his head furiously, he stalks out, being harder on the floors than necessary, and he slams the door behind him as loudly as possible. It rattles in its frame, and a splinter of wood breaks off to skid across the floor.</p><p>Gabriel breathes heavily, unable to process anything that has just transpired. A door down the hallway opens, and an older woman looks out at him disapprovingly. His most withering glare makes quick work of her though, and she slinks back into her apartment, leaving him alone once more.</p><p>He pulls out his phone, immediately hurt and angered once more as the list of unanswered calls to Nathalie pops back up onto his screen. He disregards them and calls his driver.</p><p>“Pick me up,” he barks as soon as the man answers the phone. He hangs up without waiting for a response and airdrops him his location.</p><p>Once back at the mansion, the gravity of the situation sinks in. Gabriel tries to work, but quickly gives up, recognizing his attempts to be futile. He nearly descends into his underground chamber to visit Emilie, but his heart cries out at the thought of facing her right now. He stands halfway between his desk and the portrait, stuck in limbo.</p><p>This is where Adrien finds him when he returns from school. Gabriel nearly snaps at Nathalie for the interruption before he remembers with a sinking feeling that Nathalie no longer works for him.</p><p>“Father, you’ll never believe what happened at school today!” Adrien says, but he stops, never getting to his story. He looks around the room. “Where’s Nathalie?”</p><p>Gabriel freezes, not expecting to be faced with the worst possible question right off the bat. “She is… out,” he says lamely, unable to come up with a more thorough excuse.</p><p>“Out?” Adrien asks. “Where? She didn’t pick me up from school today, so I thought she’d be here.” Apparently Gabriel fails to hide his dismay, because a worried crease soon forms in his son’s brow. “Is she okay? What happened?”</p><p>“Nothing that you need to concern yourself with,” he says nonchalantly, but the damage is done.</p><p>Adrien’s eyes widen. “Please, Father, where is she? Is she sick again?”</p><p>“No. She’s at home.”</p><p>“But—”</p><p>“Nathalie no longer works here,” he finally snaps. “She handed in her resignation today.”</p><p>“W—what?” Adrien stammers, taking a shocked step back. “No. No, she wouldn’t do that.”</p><p>“She would, and she has. There’s nothing more to be done,” Gabriel says.</p><p>“No!” Adrien cries. Gabriel is taken aback to see tears in his eyes. “Nathalie would never just leave like that. She cares about us. She wouldn’t just — Are you sure?”</p><p>“She made herself quite clear,” Gabriel says wearily, wishing for the conversation to die.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Several reasons, Adrien, none of which are your concern. We had a falling out, and that’s all you need to know.”</p><p>Adrien’s eyes go wide. “She <em> wouldn’t. </em>Not over an argument.”</p><p>“She did.”</p><p>“What did you —?” His eyes briefly flash in anger, and Gabriel flinches, not used to seeing such an open display from Adrien. But the look subsides quickly, replaced by something meeker as he asks, “Did you say something that upset her?”</p><p>“Upsetting words were exchanged both ways,” Gabriel says, curling his fists.</p><p>“Please, Father, go apologize,” Adrien says. Gabriel’s eyebrows raise. “Even if you didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t want Nathalie to leave us.”</p><p>“I will do nothing of the sort.” Gabriel walks away from Adrien to look out the front windows. He avoids looking at Nathalie’s desk to his left, instead positioning himself in the rightmost corner of the room. “She was out of line. If she hadn’t quit, it’s likely I’d have fired her.”</p><p>“I don’t believe it,” Adrien says. “She’s been here for years; the two of you are practically best friends.” Gabriel opens his mouth to protest, but Adrien continues, asking, “What did you even fight about?”</p><p>Gabriel’s lip twitches in annoyance. “It’s private.”</p><p>Adrien lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “You can’t even tell me why? I’m losing one of the most important people in my life, and I don’t even get an explanation.”</p><p>Gabriel closes his eyes, trying to shut out the guilt rising inside of him. After a pause, he says as calmly as he can, “I think you should go up to your room.”</p><p>This time, the sound that comes from Adrien’s mouth is definitely a sob. Gabriel feels progressively worse as the door to his atelier opens and closes once more, Adrien’s footsteps fading away.</p><p>He begins to wonder whether he’s made a terrible mistake. He looks at Nathalie’s empty desk and realizes that for the first time, he’s truly alone. There’s a horrible ache in his chest that he stubbornly pushes away as best he can in order to continue with his everyday life, but there is a bareness in the room that can’t be filled.</p><p>The next few days just go further downhill. Nathalie’s absence is both an emotional drain and a tangible obstacle. Gabriel struggles to keep up with his work, becoming aware of just how integral Nathalie was in keeping the company running smoothly.</p><p>In spite of that, he finds himself unable to write a job posting to replace her. Everytime he even thinks to attempt it, his hands freeze over the keyboard and refuse to cooperate. </p><p>On top of it all, Adrien is notably resentful. He gives Gabriel accusatory looks, voicing all the thoughts that he knows he is not allowed to say verbally. But Gabriel refuses to budge. Even as his insides squirm, he meets Adrien’s eyes with an even stare, as if nothing of note has occured at all. It’s the only bit of power he has left in this situation, and he isn’t about to let it go.</p><p>But secretly, he feels like he’s drowning in a pool of hopelessness. His time as Papillon has made him extraordinarily good at recognizing his emotions (even if he is at a loss as to <em> why </em>he is feeling them), and since the events of his last akuma, he has felt fury, grief, hurt, shame, and fear, just to name a few. Some are associated with the loss of the miraculous and what that means for Emilie, but he knows that Nathalie is the cause of much of his emotional strife as well, even if she shouldn’t be.</p><p>He receives only silence from her, and it begins to seem like he will have to clear off her desk himself, until she finally shows up at the front gate one afternoon. It’s a bizarre sight to see Nathalie waiting for an invitation, rather than just letting herself in. Gabriel presses the button to speak to her through the intercom, but he finds that he has nothing to say. He shakes his head and buzzes her in, and she doesn’t seem particularly surprised when the gates swing open without a word from him.</p><p>He meets her at the front door, and they stare at each other in uncomfortable silence. They’re much further apart than they typically stand, and Gabriel has to fight the urge to be pulled in by Nathalie’s magnetism. He raises a brow at her, refusing to be the first to speak, but secretly, he hopes she will cave in and beg for her job back. It wouldn’t take much convincing on her part for him to give it to her.</p><p>It seems that not even this will go in his favor, however. Nathalie stands stiffly, spine straight, and she doesn’t shy away from his eyes. “I’m here to pick up my things,” she says as if she’s issuing a challenge. After a moment, though, she softens. “And to say goodbye to Adrien.”</p><p>“You are not to interact with Adrien,” he says. He feels a pang of guilt, an unwelcome reminder from his conscience of how difficult this will be for his son. But with Adrien being one of many issues in their conflict, Gabriel feels that he needs to be firm on the matter. “It will only upset him.”</p><p>Nathalie’s calm demeanor vanishes in an instant. “You can’t—”</p><p>“I can.”</p><p>“Well, then you <em> shouldn’t.” </em> The panic present in her voice and her eyes should be satisfying to him, but instead, he just feels ill. “We’ve been in each other’s lives for <em> five years </em> now. Adrien is sensitive; you know this will upset him.”</p><p>“My decision is final,” he insists, though he feels less sure than ever. “I forbid you from—”</p><p>“Nathalie!” Adrien exclaims from the top of the stairs. Gabriel closes his eyes and sighs, surprised to find that his reaction stems from a place of relief, even though he masks it as disappointment. “Please tell me it isn’t true,” Adrien begs as he rushes down the stairs and into her arms, nearly bowling her over.</p><p>A sorrowful look crosses her face as she gazes down at the top of his head. “I’m sorry, Adrien.”</p><p>“Why?” he cries, burying his face further into her shoulder.</p><p>She glances at Gabriel. “It isn’t anything to do with you. I promise,” she says, skirting around the question. Gabriel is grateful that at the very least, she has enough self-preservation to keep their miraculous troubles secret. But the gratitude is short lived. “I won’t disappear on you. We’ll keep in touch.”</p><p>“You will not,” Gabriel says sternly. “It’s exactly this kind of overstepping of boundaries that led us to this predicament, <em> Miss Sancœur. </em>Now come retrieve your things.”</p><p>“Father, no,” Adrien says, only pulling his face away to look at Gabriel, otherwise keeping a tight hold on Nathalie. Tears stream down his cheeks.</p><p>It’s impossible to completely deny such a direct plea. “I’ll give you a moment afterwards to say goodbye,” he says. He’s aware that it’s a poor concession prize, but it’s all he can offer. There’s something about continued contact that’s too familiar.</p><p>Too maternal.</p><p>He’s not entirely sure why that matters to him, but it’s an itch that he can’t quite scratch.</p><p>“Miss Sancœur. Let’s go,” he orders, leading the way into the atelier.</p><p>Once inside, she turns towards him with burning eyes. “Take it back.”</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re requesting, but the answer is likely, ‘no,’” he says. He hands her a cardboard box from the corner of the room. “Please pack your things.”</p><p>She grits her teeth at him and tosses it aside. “You may have issues with me, Gabriel, but it’s wrong to be taking it out on Adrien. Don’t punish him for my actions. It isn’t fair.”</p><p>“Life isn’t fair,” he retorts. “I will do as I please with my son. This kind of intervention from you has gone on long enough.”</p><p>She gapes at him. “Intervention? Helping to raise him was part of my <em> job. </em>All I want is the best for Adrien. You know this.”</p><p>“It’s not your place to want that. I am his father; <em> I </em>will decide what is best for him, and you have overstepped. You are not his mother, and as much as you may think that is your position to claim, I can assure you it is not.”</p><p>She lets out a disbelieving huff of air, and her lip trembles as it rushes out of her. “I never — I never <em> thought </em>I was his mother. I just wanted to be an adult that he can trust. He has been through so much.”</p><p>“I’m aware of what he’s been through,” Gabriel snaps. “I understand well enough. You saw the gap in his life that Emilie left behind, and you thought you could fill it. That’s why you lost the miraculous.”</p><p>“No, I—”</p><p>“I won’t allow it, miraculous or not,” he bites, growing tired of her excuses. Every word that draws this out just causes him more pain. “Adrien has one mother, and it’s due to your actions that they won’t be reunited. You won’t replace her.”</p><p>“I wasn’t trying to — Would you listen?” she explodes. “I have never once tried to fill the space that Emilie has left behind! Most of the time, I am trying to fill the space <em> you </em>left behind, Gabriel!”</p><p>His face warms. “What are you implying?” he demands, although he thinks that he already knows.</p><p>“Adrien is not the first child in this world to lose a parent,” she exclaims. “Emilie’s disappearance was hard on him, but he managed. What you haven’t seen — what you <em> refuse </em> to see — is that he’s been mourning <em> you </em>simultaneously. You never have time for him anymore, and when you do, you are so lacking in warmth that you might as well be a stranger.” She leans in, getting bolder as she continues her tirade. “The role of ‘mother’ didn’t need to be filled, not until you disappeared from his life, as well. I haven’t been playing ‘mom’ to your son, Gabriel. I’ve taken on the role of his father.”</p><p>Gabriel is boiling over. The heat of his anger is fortified by the heat of embarrassment that has ignited in him. The two fires war with each other, and eventually, the anger wins. “You are not to see or speak with my son again. Collect your things and leave.”</p><p>“I thought you were better than this,” she whispers. “I gave up so much for you, Gabriel, and I did it because I thought that you were a good man who was willing to do anything for his son, even if you were misguided at times.”</p><p>Gabriel is silent, lacking a good response.</p><p>“Was I wrong? Was it all a selfish quest that had nothing to do with him at all?”</p><p>The pinch of truth in her accusations is a bitter pill to swallow, and he turns away, trying to shut her out as much as possible. It is a difficult task. Her energy is radiating off of her with blinding rays that seep through the pores of his skin.</p><p>“I’m beginning to wonder why I ever —” She stops, composing herself. “At the end of the day, the role doesn’t matter; I care about Adrien. Don’t hurt him like this.” Her voice wavers. “Don’t make me lose him. Please.”</p><p>“I—” He cuts himself off, realizing with a start that he doesn’t know what will come out of his mouth.</p><p>“Don’t make me lose <em> you.” </em></p><p>The waver in her voice pulls his eyes back towards her in shock. Her face is flushed, her eyes downcast. He finds himself moved by her rare emotion, and he quickly turns himself away again, but the damage is done. Her unshed tears find their way into the cracks of his armored heart, dissolving the barriers away.</p><p>“I’m being forced to choose between staying with you and having any ounce of self-respect,” she says. “I don’t want to. I want — I <em> want </em> to believe that the awful things we did had a justification. I <em> want </em>to believe that even when you were upset, even when you said horrible things, you still cared deep down. Do you, Gabriel? Do you care at all?” She stops, breathing sharply. “I need to know that, through it all, it mattered to you whether I lived or died.”</p><p>Her last plea slices through him. Gabriel closes his eyes, trying to stop himself from giving in. He can’t deny that Nathalie’s words, so open and sincere, have softened him. He’d expected a fight from her, but the fear and sorrow coming through her plea to him is entirely a shock. His own heart aches as he realizes the true impact her departure will have.</p><p>He sighs, resigning himself to making up with her. Losing Nathalie is too much. It will be too hard on Adrien, and as stubborn as he is to admit it, it will be too hard on him as well. On top of it all, he feels immense guilt that Nathalie has so little faith in him. It seems she doubts he has a heart at all. He scowls, annoyed at himself for multiple reasons, as he tries to find the words to turn the conversation around.</p><p>Before he can respond to her, however, she cries out with a fearful, “No! Leave me alone!”</p><p>He whirls around, shocked to see a purple butterfly making its way towards her.</p><p>An akuma.</p><p>At first it seems like an impossibility. Yes, the miraculous were stolen from them, but Gabriel had never pictured anyone other than himself as Papillon. It’s surreal to see an akuma that wasn’t of his own creation. He feels as if he’s living in a dream — vivid and frightening, but ultimately not real.</p><p>Nathalie grasps for something to swipe at the akuma. Her computer mouse makes it into her hand and she pulls it free from the port it is plugged into. Gabriel is finally startled into action as she swings it at the akuma in an attempt to ward it off.</p><p>“Nathalie, don’t,” he warns. “Don’t give it an object to latch onto.” Nathalie’s eyes dart towards him, but as the butterfly lurches towards her again, she can’t help but swing the mouse around.</p><p>The butterfly is absorbed into it, and a purple mask forms over her face, illuminating the tear tracks down her cheeks.</p><p>“Nathalie!” She is yet to transform, eyes scrunched painfully shut as she tries to block out the offer on the other end. Gabriel rushes to her, grabbing her by the arms. She doesn’t react at all. He brings his hands up to her face, cupping it roughly as he tries to catch her attention. “Nathalie,” he repeats. “Look at me.” </p><p>Her eyes snap open, wild with fear. “Gabriel,” she whimpers. </p><p>“Don’t let it control you,” he orders. “You can fight it.”</p><p>She shakes her head. “Run.”</p><p>“I’m not going to — Just let the akuma go. Let’s talk. We can fix it.”</p><p>“No,” she cries in a strangled tone. She pushes back against his hands. “I’m barely holding on, and I can’t much longer.”</p><p>“Nathalie—”</p><p>“Listen to me!” Her eyes catch the purple glow of the mask. “I’m going to target <em> you. </em>I can’t help it; I have no control. You need to grab Adrien and get as far away as you — Leave me alone! Leave me alone!” she screams, hands coming to clutch at her head.</p><p>Gabriel backs away in horror, caught between what he should do and what he wants to do. And he’s not entirely sure which is which. His body yearns to rush back to her side and stand with her in fighting the akuma back, but her words have rattled him and sent him stumbling away. Pulled in two directions, he comes to a stop, frozen in space.</p><p>It seems that he is to be punished for his inaction. In the time it takes him to decide what to do, a cloud of black and purple envelops Nathalie, turning her into a brand new supervillain.</p><p>She is very different from her only other akumatized form, Catalyst. To begin with, she looks far more human, maintaining her natural skin color. However, the illusion doesn’t last long, broken as she opens her eyes to reveal startling black all the way through, even across her sclera — the eyes of a demon or some other dark being.</p><p>Her hair falls loosely in wild curls, a style that Gabriel suspects Nathalie has never worn in her everyday life. His stomach is filled with uncomfortable fluttering as he takes in her attire: a short bodycon dress made of cracking, peeling red leather that hugs every curve of her figure. The mouse in her hand has transformed into a heavily spiked mace in the shape of a heart, and he shudders as he thinks of what she could do with a weapon like that. Fishnet tights cling to her legs and to her wrists as fingerless gloves. To finish off the look, she wears tall black boots with shiny red metallic toes.</p><p>All panic is gone from her expression. Instead, she looks downright pissed. If looks could kill, Gabriel would be dead, revived, and deceased once more.</p><p>“Nathalie,” he says softly, trying to get ahead of the situation before it gets any worse. He finds it hard to meet her dead, black eyes.</p><p>However, he seems to have forgotten the first rule of akumas in his short time without the miraculous. “Not Nathalie,” she grits at him. “My name is Heartbreaker.”</p><p>He is taken aback. Everything about Nathalie’s akumatized form is an utter shock. Based on the nature of their fight, Gabriel would have expected something more related to the miraculous. Instead, she looks like Valentine’s Day gone wrong, with the name to match.</p><p>“What do you want?” he asks, trying to unpuzzle this confounding situation.</p><p>She walks towards him, her strides long and threatening. “For years and years, I have given so much and received nothing in return.” Her eyes narrow. “If nobody will give me love, then I’m here to steal it from those who have it and break the hearts of those that don’t.”</p><p>From the venom in her voice, it seems that she considers Gabriel to be in the second category.</p><p>“You are — loved,” he stammers out, finding it oddly difficult to say. Yes, Nathalie is appreciated and cared for, but to put it in those terms is unfamiliar to him.</p><p>“Liar,” she accuses, and she swings her mace at him. He throws himself out of the way, narrowly dodging its trajectory.</p><p>“Nathalie, please—”</p><p>“Heart. Breaker,” she corrects, swinging the mace at him again. He rolls to the side.</p><p>He leaps to his feet, panting. “I don’t understand this,” he finally says. “Why ‘Heartbreaker’ of all forms to take? What is the relevance to anything that’s happened here?”</p><p>Heartbreaker goes still, seeming surprised for once. And… hurt? “I suppose that means you weren’t faking it. This whole time, you were utterly oblivious.”</p><p>“I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gabriel pleads, seeing a way out. If he hasn’t knowingly done whatever Heartbreaker thinks he has, perhaps there’s a way to settle the situation without a fight.</p><p>Her lip curls up at him disdainfully, however. “Of course not. I should’ve known that Gabriel Agreste was too self-centered to notice anyone else for all of five minutes.” She begins to approach him, and he walks backwards to maintain the distance between them.</p><p>“I’m not the most observant,” Gabriel admits. “I never have been. Please, Nathalie, if not our recent argument, what is this about?”</p><p>“I’m not Nathalie!” she yells. “She’s still in here, begging and screaming for me not to give away all her pathetic little secrets, but I’m in control now. I couldn’t care less about her or you!” There’s a flash of blue in her eyes, so quick he almost misses it. “You must be a fool if you still have to ask. Did you really think that she would give up so much of her life and allow herself to slowly die for you out of the goodness of her heart?”</p><p>“Are you saying you had an ulterior motive?”</p><p>She growls at him. <em> “No. </em> What I’m saying is that you’ve been completely blind to what drives her to remain loyal to you, even after everything you’ve done to hurt her. I’m—” She stops, correcting herself with a disdainful snarl. “ <em> She’s </em> hopelessly in love with you.”</p><p>He freezes, Heartbreaker’s words crashing over him like an ice-cold wave. It isn’t until she has stepped dangerously close to him that he remembers himself and stumbles away. “You’re lying,” he accuses, but his words come out unsure. His brain is too overwhelmed, trying desperately to catch up with the new information that has been dumped on him all at once. “You’re a trusted friend, and I should have been kinder, but you’re not — that is, you’ve never—”</p><p>“What? Confessed? What would that have achieved? We were trying to bring Emilie back.”</p><p>Gabriel opens his mouth to defend himself, but finds that he has no response. He is still reeling from this new discovery, and he can’t wrap his head around the idea that Nathalie has been harboring these secret feelings for all this time.</p><p>He is startled by his back meeting the wall. He realizes with horror that he has cornered himself, allowing Heartbreaker to reach him. Her face takes on a wicked smile as she approaches him and leans in. He shrinks down the wall in a last, desperate attempt for distance, and she looms overhead. She twirls her mace at him mockingly, and he winces at each cycle it takes, ruffling his hair with the air it displaces as it spins.</p><p>“Please,” he says, having run out of other options. “Don’t do this.”</p><p>She raises a brow. “Give me a reason not to.”</p><p>“I — you…”</p><p>“You have nothing to offer me, Gabriel,” she says, her smirk dropping in an instant. “Anything you could possibly promise me would be false, and we both know it.” She swings the mace around more threateningly. “It’s time for me to break <em> your </em>heart.”</p><p>“No,” he pleads, but Heartbreaker prepares her weapon. Gabriel curls into himself and braces for impact, waiting for agony to come.</p><p>
  <b>💔</b>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>💔</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel expects Heartbreaker’s mace to crash into him, tearing his skin and leaving him in horrible pain, but it never happens. Instead, there is a quick shriek, followed by a scuffle. He opens his eyes to find Chat Noir wrestling with a very angry Heartbreaker a few feet away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel scrambles to his feet, shock slowing him down and making him clumsy. It takes him a few moments to realize that her mace has fallen from her hands and rolled across the floor. With a start, he recalls that the mace holds the akuma inside it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He lunges for the weapon, but he is too slow. Heartbreaker snakes out from Chat Noir’s hold and reaches it before he does. She swings it around at him and he drops to the floor with an undignified sound of terror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir fends her off, the mace clanging painfully against his staff. “F—Mister Agreste,” he calls, “run!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel is stuck however, transfixed by the fight. He watches as Heartbreaker stops, reevaluating her tactics. Chat Noir sees this as an opportunity to make a move, and he rushes towards her. Rather than try to defend herself with her mace, she sends him back with a brutal kick to the center of the chest. He hits the wall hard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Try again when you have Ladybug with you,” she sneers. She turns her attention to Gabriel. “Don’t assume you’re safe from me, Gabriel. I’ll be back with a few new friends.” She sends her mace through the window with a resounding crash and leaps out into the city.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He should be relieved to see her go after nearly being broken at her hands, but all he wants is for her to turn back around. His eyes follow until she’s just a speck on the horizon, his heart sinking with each meter of distance that grows between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir lets out a small grunt, and Gabriel turns to look at him. The hero is lucky that the suit makes him so resilient; after the blow Heartbreaker delivered to him, the wall of the atelier is now cracked, but he looks more inconvenienced than pained as he pulls himself to his feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel suddenly feels uneasy, realizing that he is now alone with his longtime nemesis. Chat Noir looks equally unsure, and for a moment Gabriel panics, thinking that he somehow has found out Gabriel’s double life as Papillon. But of course that doesn’t make sense; Heartbreaker has been with Gabriel the entire time of her akumatization and nobody knows yet that the Butterfly miraculous has changed hands. With a bit of oddly placed guilt, Gabriel recalls that on his last meeting with the hero, as Gabriel, not Papillon, he had been less than kind, and the two of them had argued. It is surely an event that left an impression on Chat Noir, and not a pleasant one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m lucky you showed up when you did,” Gabriel says, breaking the silence. He is aware that it is not a proper thanks or apology, but it is about as much gratitude as he can muster up for the person who had defeated him time and time again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah,” Chat Noir replies awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. “I’m glad I was in the neighborhood. That could have been bad for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not just for him, but for Adrien too. “My son,” Gabriel exclaims in realization. “I should go check on him—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” Chat Noir says, bringing him to a stop. “I mean, uh, he’s already somewhere safe. We, uh, saw the akuma come into your house and Ladybug brought him somewhere he could hide. I was just the distraction.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gives a cheeky grin, leaning on his staff to give a carefree illusion, but Gabriel can still sense an apprehension underneath. He feels on edge himself, especially as he realizes how fortunate he is that the heroes never saw an akuma coming </span>
  <em>
    <span>out </span>
  </em>
  <span>of his house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But,” Chat Noir continues, “I should go join her now. You should be safe here, umm, Mister Agreste.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait,” Gabriel says, realizing he has valuable information. “The akuma is in her weapon. I was there when she was akumatized.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Chat Noir says, expression growing unexpectedly dark. “I mean, I know it’s in her weapon; she was terrified to lose it.” His mouth twists around unsurely. “Do you know what her powers are?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She was vague about it. She said she was going to steal love and break hearts. I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what that entails.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” Chat Noir responds. His brow lowers in determination. “That’s something at least.” Gabriel shudders involuntarily, and Chat Noir looks at him out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t worry,” he says, though his voice is more harsh than reassuring. “We’ll sort this out fast and you’ll be safe soon enough.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He moves to protest that his own safety isn’t his primary concern, but he remembers that time is of the essence. “Thank you,” he grits out, allowing the hero to give him a stiff nod and depart out the same broken window as Heartbreaker.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel nervously pulls up footage of the fight, uncomfortably warm as the summer heat seeps in through the broken glass. Heartbreaker’s powers soon become clear; those who she steals love from, the “heartless,” become part of a zombie-like entourage, driven solely by her orders once she has sapped them of all emotion. Having one’s heart broken is, by far, the worser fate. The victims of this attack are driven into emotional agony, clutching their chests and sobbing with amplified grief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now you know how it feels,” Heartbreaker says to each one as she dispenses their punishment. Gabriel can hardly believe his eyes as he witnesses their pain. Is that what he’d been inflicting on Nathalie all this time? Is this an outward expression of everything she’s been dealing with internally and privately?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His access to battle footage doesn’t last long. Heartbreaker is fast. It takes little time for her to incapacitate most of the ground reporters on the scene, bringing them into her fold or breaking their hearts. The last feed cuts out just as Rena Rouge arrives on the scene. All that remains are news stations running helicopter footage, which is hard to decipher action through at such a distance. Exasperated by his inability to keep track of the battle, Gabriel sets his phone aside, lays back on the couch, and allows himself to fall deep into thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the way Heartbreaker had spoken with him, it seemed that he’d been missing the obvious for quite some time. However, it had never even crossed his mind that Nathalie could be harboring such feelings for him. He wonders if he’s been as oblivious as she’d accused him of being, or if she’d been hiding it extremely well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He supposes, now that he knows the truth, that her loyalty and dedication to him could be considered clues of their own. But plenty of people showed high amounts of loyalty without being in love. Without anything else to go on, he’s not sure how he was supposed to reach that conclusion. It seems like an unreasonable expectation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sits up, suddenly feeling righteously angered. It’s beyond ridiculous for Nathalie to blame him for never seeing her affections. Even when he was in possession of the Butterfly miraculous, he was never a mindreader. It shouldn’t ever have been his responsibility to sleuth out her motivations. After all, even though he couldn’t read her mind, he could read her emotions, and nothing like that had ever come through at all. It is clear that she was masking them from him all that time, which was surely intentional. Now, they are both suffering for it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He huffs and shakes his head. Perhaps they wouldn’t be dealing with this situation right now if she had merely talked to him instead of letting it stew so long inside. But then, he recalls, what would he have had to offer her? It’s not as if a simple conversation would have dissuaded him from his mission and made him return her love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then, very suddenly, he is struck with an image, a spark of his imagination. He pictures the two of them sitting together on a bench in the garden, Nathalie tucked up close to him with their arms intertwined. A blossom from the dogwood tree overhead drifts down to land on her head, and he helps untangle it from her hair before offering it to her. She takes it and gives him the gentlest of smiles, filling him with a warmth equal in strength to the sun’s rays.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart skips a beat as he tears himself out of his daydream. “That’s absurd,” he spits out, to no one in particular. But to his displeasure, his protests feel false, even to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The unwelcome, yet shamefully pleasant images are replaced by ones far more insidious. Having driven all lovely daydreams of Nathalie out of his head, Gabriel is now haunted by the memory of Heartbreaker’s black eyes. It had been so terrible to look at Nathalie’s familiar face, only to see utter emptiness behind her lids.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wonders if this is how most of Paris feels, to see their loved ones controlled by the darkness of an akuma.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In his case, he feels helpless.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He rises to his feet, deciding that the heat must be getting to him. He leaves the atelier, closing the door behind him, and begins to pace in the front hall, at a loss for what to do. He is anxious and worried, and he is itching to do something, but he can’t bring himself to pick up a tablet and actually work. For all his restlessness, the creative spirit has been sapped out of him, leaving nothing but an empty, jittering shell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He just about jumps out of his skin as the front door swings open. Adrien stands in the doorframe, flushed and sweaty from the heat. Gabriel pays that detail no mind as he rushes in to make sure that his son is in one piece.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He seems unharmed, even if he is bright red and out of breath. “Are you okay? You weren’t hurt, were you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” Adrien says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel nods, and the impulse to hug Adrien nags at him. He obliges, hoping that giving into this instinct will quell whatever is badgering him to reassess his entire relationship with his executive assistant. Adrien stiffens, seemingly surprised by Gabriel’s show of affection.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel freezes, realizing as he holds Adrien, looking into the empty front yard, that Nathalie is nowhere to be found. He pulls away to look Adrien in the eye as he asks, “Did the heroes not bring Nathalie back with you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien jerks away, looking offended. “Were you not keeping up with the news at all?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course I was. But there was only helicopter footage by the end. It was hard to keep up with,” Gabriel responds. Adrien looks away, face becoming repentant. “Why? What happened?” he demands, suddenly panicked. He begins to assume the worst: that somehow the fight had ended up with Nathalie injured, or even dead, with the Ladybug cure unable to fix it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They brought in Rena Rouge </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>Carapace, and it still wasn’t enough to stop her,” Adrien exclaims. “They both got hit within five minutes, and Ladybug and I — I guess Chat Noir had to pull them aside and take the miraculous off of them so their identities wouldn’t be compromised. After that, they left. And then Chat Noir came back and sent me home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They just left?” Gabriel snarls. The heroes had never before left akuma victims without returning them to their normal state. Nathalie had done nothing to deserve their abandonment — at least not to their knowledge. “They just gave up on her?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, nothing like that,” Adrien is quick to correct. “Ladybug gave a statement; they have to regroup and think of their next strategy before putting any more of the miraculous at risk.” He sighs, shoulders dropping heavily. “I’m glad that you care, though.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Gabriel responds sharply, feeling as though he’s been accused of something. “Of course I care.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Adrien says. “It’s just that I know you were arguing. I’m glad that it wasn’t so big of a fight that it made you hate each other entirely.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Gabriel informs him. “I wouldn’t — We were in the process of making up when…” He stops, guilt weighing down on him once more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did it happen?” Adrien asks, wringing his hands nervously. “Especially if you were making up, I don’t understand—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gabriel says. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But Father—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adrien.” His son closes his mouth. “It’s a private issue. Besides, it’s time to go upstairs and practice for your piano lesson.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a second it seems that Adrien will talk back, but ultimately, he nods and heads up to his room, head hanging dejectedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel, for his part, feels about the same, and his despondency and unease only grow as several days pass. Thoughts of Nathalie weigh heavily on his mind. He begins to entertain ideas that he never dreamed of having in the first place. It feels like a betrayal to everything he’s worked on, but everytime he pictures himself with Nathalie in that capacity, it leaves him with a safe, contented feeling that is usually lacking these days.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Though perhaps it is absence making the heart grow fonder. Oftentimes, he turns toward Nathalie’s desk to ask a question or make a comment, and he is quite shocked when he remembers that she’s not there. She’s become a permanent fixture in his life, a comforting constant that is always there as a hand to hold onto in times of need. He begrudgingly must admit that he has overlooked Nathalie’s importance in his life, and all the work she does to keep him sane and stable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It takes nearly a week, but he finally reaches his breaking point. Throughout this time, he has seen Viperion make an appearance, as well as Ryoko, Queen Bee, temporary holders for the Fox and the Turtle, and some frankly questionable new heroes that are clearly the result of Ladybug and Chat Noir scrambling for new recruits. Why it’s taken them so long to choose new holders, especially after the events that caused their identities to be revealed, he isn’t sure of, but it is quite disheartening to see the fight dragged on and on as the heroes fail.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s had constant protection throughout this time, the various secondary holders coming to stand guard in shifts. They’re better at protecting the household than they are at taking down Heartbreaker, but they’ve held off two close calls at this point, and quite frankly, it has Gabriel on edge. He’s worried for Adrien, concerned about his own safety, nervous for Nathalie, and ashamed for his part in causing the whole ordeal. Eventually, he feels like a boiling kettle with nowhere for the steam to come out. He wanders the halls aimlessly, looking for release, before stopping in front of Adrien’s room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighs. The situation can’t get any worse than it already is. He pushes the door open, determined to at least say something that relieves some of the pressure he feels inside of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien looks surprised to see him, almost looking as if he’s been caught red-handed. Gabriel can’t imagine for what, however; he is sitting on his bed with homework strewn about, and the only thing Gabriel can find fault in is the lack of organization.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” Adrien says unsurely. Gabriel nods uncomfortably and Adrien springs to his feet. “Wait, is there news? Did anything happen?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, nothing like that. I simply wanted to discuss the events of the past week,” Gabriel says. He walks to the window and looks out, searching the horizon for the right words. Nothing is quite right; there’s no way to prevent the conversation from being awkward, so he bites the bullet and reveals, “Nathalie was akumatized because I didn’t show my appreciation for her. I was overlooking just how much she’s done for us and how much she cares.” He glances at Adrien out of the corner of his eye. “I decided you should know that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” Adrien says. He goes quiet. After a moment, he takes a few tentative steps closer. “Did something big change?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In a way, yes. But I suspect the underlying cause is that she was simply at her breaking point.” He turns back to Adrien, and remorse sinks in. “I know this has been stressful for you, Adrien, and it’s my fault. I should have been more aware of how she was feeling.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien adopts a thoughtful frown. His eyes soften as he says, “We all make mistakes. I know it’s been difficult, but I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will sort it out in the end. You’ll still have a chance to make things right with her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to fully fix it.” He pauses, trying to keep the rest of the equation from spilling out of him, but he can’t stop himself as he finally admits, “Nathalie is in love with me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien lets out a small noise of surprise, eyes going wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel closes his eyes in regret. “I shouldn’t have told you that; it’s not my secret to share. But it’s been weighing heavily on me ever since Heartbreaker revealed it.” As he speaks it, he feels that weight press down, and he lowers himself onto Adrien’s bed to help bear the burden.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien approaches carefully. “Can I say something if you promise not to get mad?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel scowls. He doesn’t like making guarantees about his temper, but due to the circumstances, he allows himself to make an exception. “Yes, alright,” he sighs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien meets his gaze, but then quickly looks away. He avoids his eyes as he asks, “Are you sure you don’t have the ability to fix it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel has an inkling of where the conversation is going, but he wants to hear the rest of what Adrien has to say before making any assumptions. He simply raises his brow and waits for him to continue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien hesitates, choosing his words as if picking candy from a bowl in which half the pieces are poisoned. “Do you remember the conversation we had on the anniversary of Mom’s disappearance? I know it upset you then,” he says quickly, “and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions on that day of all days. But… even though I was wrong, I don’t think I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>entirely</span>
  </em>
  <span> wrong.” He stops, looking at Gabriel tentatively, with a bowed head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, you weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>entirely</span>
  </em>
  <span> wrong,” Gabriel says, placing a bit more emphasis on the word than Adrien had. “It seems you had a better view of the situation than I did. I truly had no idea she felt that way until she told me in her akumatized form.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Actually,” Adrien says, and he’s even more tentative as he continues, “I didn’t get the idea from the way Nathalie was acting. I got it from you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel blinks, startled by that revelation. “From me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Adrien shifts, pulling a leg under him. “It was back when she was really sick all the time, pretty much at the worst of it, and you were always just so…” He wrinkles his nose, searching for the correct term, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>gentle</span>
  </em>
  <span> with her. Attentive. And at first I thought you were just looking after a friend, but it was a whole other layer of care that I’d never seen from you before. Not since—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“—your mother,” Gabriel finishes. He draws his eyes away, allowing them to wander the room. They land on a picture of Emilie and Adrien together. Gabriel feels guilty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wonders whether he should feel more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Adrien scratches his head awkwardly. “I mean, I don’t know. Do you still feel the same way as you did when we had that talk, or…?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel’s first reaction is to throw up his defenses, as he did on the day in question. But, he realizes, it’s behavior such as that that has gotten him into his current predicament. He tries to consider Adrien’s question wholeheartedly, and he is surprised by what he finds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My temper was running high that day,” he admits. “When you brought up the topic, I was taken off guard, and I took it as an accusation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of what? Replacing Mom?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel nods. A bit of curiosity nags at him, and he finds himself asking, “If, at some point, I did find… something. With someone, maybe even Nathalie. Would I be replacing her?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Adrien says. “Of course not. You loved Mom for being Mom, and if you loved Nathalie, you would love her for being Nathalie. Mom can still hold a place in your heart even if Nathalie takes another; you’re not replacing her.” He hugs himself and becomes quieter. “I don’t know what happened to Mom, but I feel like she’s not coming back. I think that she would want you to move on and be happy. I think she’d want that for both of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel is numb with shock. He’s not entirely in control of himself as he asks, “Would that make you happy? If Nathalie and I…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re happy, it makes me happy,” Adrien says simply. “It’s been hard to see how hurt you are since Mom’s been gone. If being with Nathalie changed that, I’d be over the moon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but I want to know how you would take it,” Gabriel presses. “Disregarding me entirely, how would you feel?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s like I said,” he answers with a contented smile, “Nathalie’s already family.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel takes a quick breath in, finding that to be an apt observation. Over the course of this conversation, all his unfocused anxiety and restlessness have turned into a yearning that is easier to pin down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adrien,” he says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think perhaps you weren’t wrong at all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien’s eyes go as wide as dinner plates. “You mean—?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s taken me far too long to recognize it,” Gabriel says. He closes his eyes and turns away in shame. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adrien jumps up out of bed. He grabs Gabriel’s arm, a bit more violently than expected. “It’s okay, you just need to tell her that when she’s back,” he exclaims excitedly, barely taking a moment to breathe. “It’ll all be okay, Father, but for now, I need to kick you out of my room; I’m sorry!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” he asks, so surprised that he forgets to be stern in response to his own son ordering him around. “Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because…” He opens up his phone and shows him the time. “It’s past four o’clock and I have to call my friend. We’re, uh, working on a group project together and I said I’d call ten minutes ago!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah,” Gabriel says, disappointed that Adrien wants to cut the conversation short just as he has bared his entire heart. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your schoolwork,” he says, even though he would, in fact, like to do just that. He hovers unsurely in the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll talk later, thanks, bye!” Adrien forces him the remaining few steps out and closes the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel stands stiffly in the hallway, bewildered. The past few minutes had been enlightening, for sure, but he now has more questions than before. He also finds it odd that Adrien is typically so eager to spend time together but is now forcing him out for an assignment of all things.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would be a bad parent to fault his son for keeping up with his academics though, even if he’s feeling emotionally raw, so he lets his shaky legs carry him back down to the atelier. It’s a hot day, and with the broken window, the heat is sweltering, but he figures it may help return some feeling to his body where it has gone numb.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What am I thinking? </span>
  </em>
  <span>he asks himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can’t seriously be entertaining the thought of being with Nathalie. Especially when Emilie is so newly lost.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But she’s not newly lost, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he argues back with himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She’s been lost for over a year. Nothing has changed other than the certainty that she’ll remain out of reach.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Does this mean I can move on?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His visions of Nathalie are more vibrant now. In many ways, it feels as though Adrien has granted him permission to embrace his affection for her. Now that he has entertained the possibility, he can’t go back, and he’s not sure that he wants to. He can see their potential future clearly, and it is so much brighter than the difficult times they’ve been through together thus far. He thinks about what it would be like to reach out and caress her cheek with a touch as soft as a falling blossom, not out of fear or concern, but simply because he wants to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mister Agreste,” a voice calls from the broken window, startling him. He turns around, finding himself face-to-face with Chat Noir.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The joy he feels at the thought of being with Nathalie is not the only emotion amplified by his recent discovery. As soon as he sees the hero, he feels a sharp burst of fear, thinking of every little thing that could possibly be wrong regarding Heartbreaker. “What is it?” he demands, rushing to him. “Is there any news?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No big changes, though I’m sure you’re aware we haven’t had much success.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I am aware,” he confirms, frowning. “I suppose she provides a greater challenge than the typical akuma?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have no idea,” Chat Noir grumbles. “Her powers are not the worst we’ve ever seen, but she’s a vicious fighter. She must have some natural ability because even most akumas aren’t that skilled.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would hope so. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> my bodyguard,” Gabriel informs him, chest swelling a bit with pride.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir gapes at him. “What? No, she’s your personal assistant, at least that’s what I heard, not—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, well, we don’t try to advertise it. It’s one of many duties, and far from her primary job.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I had no idea,” he marvels. He can’t seem to break out of his dazed look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel raises a brow, confused by the level of shock the hero seems to be experiencing. “Most are equally unaware.” He clears his throat. “Now is there something you wished to see me about?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir shakes himself out of his stupor. “Yeah. Um.” He fumbles with his baton. “So, as you probably know, we’ve tried calling in some of our other heroes, but it hasn’t worked too well. Heartbreaker is smart and unpredictable. She’s kind of wiping the floor with us. So.” Chat Noir straightens himself up and pulls something out of his pocket, hidden from Gabriel’s view by his gloved hand. “We need to change tactics. I’m not usually the one to do this, but Ladybug agreed that we need to try something new.” He turns his hand over, revealing a hexagonal black box with an intricate red design.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The symbol of the Order of Guardians.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Gabriel Agreste. Here is the miraculous of the Snake, which grants the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the miraculous to Ladybug and me. Do you accept?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>💔</b>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>💔</b>
</p><p>It seems as if summer has turned to winter in an instant. Gabriel’s blood runs cold as he looks down at the box in Chat Noir’s hand, being openly offered to him as if he wasn’t the last person in Paris who should be trusted with an item such as this.</p><p>“Is that really — a miraculous?” he chokes out.</p><p>Chat Noir smirks at him, not reading the underlying reasons for his shock. “See for yourself.” He opens the box to reveal a serpentine aqua green bracelet. A moment later, there is a flash of light, and a kwami appears.</p><p>“Pleased to meet you, Mister Agreste,” he greets. “I am Sass, the kwami of the Snake miraculous. I think we’ll make a fine pair.”</p><p>Only days ago, Gabriel would have celebrated being handed a miraculous. Now, it is too much to bear. The power of the miraculous is intoxicating. When he was under its magic, it was almost like an addiction, an obsession. Now that he is free of it, he realizes he doesn’t want to go back. He feels pressing guilt weighing down on him, crushing any pride he has left.</p><p>“No, we won’t,” he finally exclaims.</p><p>Sass’s mouth forms into a surprised “oh,” and Chat Noir’s ears lay back. The hero flinches away from him, clearly upset.</p><p>“No,” he repeats more gently. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”</p><p>Chat Noir approaches him again, a bit more tentatively. “I know it’s a difficult calling. There have been times when I’ve wondered if I’m living up to my responsibilities. But Paris needs me, and right now, it needs you, too.” He holds out the miraculous again. “It’s not as bad as you think.”</p><p>Gabriel shakes his head, still stunned by the offer. “What in the world made you think I was a suitable choice for this?” He takes a step back. “Trust me when I say I’m the worst possible person to take up this mantle. You’ll have to find someone else.”</p><p>“Why do you think you’re the worst?” Chat Noir pries. Gabriel glowers, avoiding eye contact. “Do you think that you’re not worthy of it?”</p><p>Gabriel snaps his head back towards him. “Don’t be ridiculous.” His protestation is a bit heavy handed, and he’s sure the hero can see through it.</p><p>Sure enough, Chat’s eyes soften. “Believe it or not, you’re the <em> best </em> person for the job. You have a unique qualification almost nobody else has.” Gabriel raises a questioning brow. “You know how Heartbreaker has been running us around in circles? It’s because she’s unpredictable. Everytime we think we’ve got her pinned down, she pulls a completely unexpected move. We can’t get ahead, even with that,” he says, gesturing towards the snake miraculous. “The last guy who used this turned back time about five hundred times before giving up, and he wasn’t the first holder of the past few days. But you <em> know </em>Nathalie, probably better than everyone. Something tells me that it won’t take you nearly that many tries to get it right.”</p><p>To an extent, Gabriel must acknowledge that Chat Noir is correct, strategically speaking. Still, that doesn’t help diminish the ever-growing lump in his throat. “You’ll have to find another way. I can’t help you.”</p><p>Chat Noir’s eyes narrow, as if he is working out a complicated move in chess. Gabriel doesn’t like the glint in them as an idea clearly strikes, and a decision is made. “Well, that’s too bad,” the hero says, suddenly extremely casual in his mannerisms. “You were an ideal candidate, but I guess I’ll have to go to my second choice.”</p><p>“Who would that be?” Gabriel asks, curiosity getting the best of him.</p><p>“Why,” Chat says, a large grin plastered across his face, “Adrien, of course.”</p><p>Gabriel’s throat constricts. “Absolutely not,” he snarls. “Leave my son out of this. It’s far too dangerous.”</p><p>“I won’t have to go to him if you agree to join us,” Chat Noir suggests cheekily. “But if you refuse, I’ll simply have no other choice. You’re the only two in the entire city of Paris who know her well enough. I’m sure your son would be more than willing.”</p><p>All things considered, a civilian doesn’t stand much of a chance against a magically enhanced superhero, but the thought barely crosses Gabriel’s mind as he comes towards Chat Noir with long, aggressive strides, backing him up against the wall. It seems that the hero is so taken by surprise that he doesn’t even think to push back, even though he would easily win. </p><p>“I don’t respond well to ultimatums, Chat Noir,” Gabriel threatens, feeling a hundred feet tall even without a miraculous. “If you bring Adrien into this, I can promise you that you will regret it.”</p><p>Chat Noir swallows audibly, his wide eyes wavering back and forth nervously. “Duly noted.”</p><p>Gabriel steps back, putting more distance between them now that the hero has acquiesced. He waits, making sure that he will uphold his word.</p><p>“I won’t ask your son to step up,” Chat Noir swears. “Even if you don’t help us. But I am asking you to please consider it. I know you must be worried about her. Don’t you want to bring her back?” Gabriel curls his fists, recognizing his weakening resolve as Chat Noir manages to hit his tender spots. “From what I understand, you two have known each other forever. It must be stressful to see her like this.”</p><p>Gabriel walks away from him, busying himself with adjusting the items on Nathalie’s desk, anything he can use as a distraction from Chat Noir’s pleas. But all the same, the guilt ekes in, quickly followed by yearning.</p><p>“Forget about the city as a whole. I can tell you you’ll be saving all of Paris, but I understand more than anyone that that’s an abstract concept. Think about what this will mean to <em> her. </em> You don’t want to let your friend down, do you?”</p><p>He moves on from straightening her keyboard to searching for her mouse in order to put it in its proper place. It isn’t until he looks in confusion at the USB port for the missing device that he remembers it is an akuma now.</p><p>He stops, surprised by himself. His eyes shift to Nathalie’s chair, still so vacant, and he has a sinking feeling inside. The dogwood tree in the front yard, not quite yet in bloom, dapples shadows over the seat, pulling his focus back in.</p><p>He looks at Chat Noir out of the corner of his eye. “What would I have to do?”</p><p>The hero beams back at him. “Not much. You won’t need to be part of the fighting itself. We want you to predict the best moment to use your Second Chance — that’s your power, by the way; it allows you to jump back within five minutes of time — and give us warning for what to look out for after each try. Eventually, it should be enough for us to grab the akuma from her.”</p><p>Gabriel holds himself back from saying that having to fight is the least of his concern. He turns his head back to the kwami and waits for further instruction.</p><p>“To transform, all you have to say is, ‘Sass, scales slither.’”</p><p>Gabriel looks back at Nathalie’s empty chair. He sighs. “Alright. Sass, scales slither.”</p><p>Magic flows over him, cooler and more subtle than the raw and volatile energy of Papillon. He now wears a suit of black, green, and silver in a snakeskin pattern, larger scales breaking the texture here and there in interesting detail. For a moment, he fears that with a full mask, he may be identifiable as Papillon, but he feels the hair atop his head rustle in the breeze, reassuring him that his current mask shows more of his face than his usual one.</p><p>He breaks away from examining himself to look back to Chat Noir. The hero nods approvingly. “So, what should I call you?”</p><p>He frowns. He looks back down at himself once more for ideas, his eye catching the miraculous itself — a snake that appears to be eating its own tail. “Ouroboros,” he cracks, and Chat Noir seems slightly taken aback.</p><p>He has no patience for explaining his choice in moniker however, and he couldn’t possibly put into words the strange grief and heaviness he feels. “Let’s go,” he deflects.</p><p>They exit through the broken window, passing the dogwood trees that Nathalie adores so much, and Chat Noir leaps up onto the roof. Ouroboros nearly follows him, catching himself as he remembers that he shouldn’t know how to do any of this yet.</p><p>Chat Noir looks back down over the ledge. “Just jump up,” he calls. “The miraculous gives you a lot more strength than you have as a civilian.”</p><p>Ouroboros takes a performative deep breath, but he realizes quickly that he actually does need to reassure himself. As Papillon, he at least had his staff to help him. Now, he only has a lyre, which will not do much in terms of helping his balance.</p><p>He’s not sure it will do much to help at all, if he’s being entirely honest.</p><p>He does adjust fairly quickly to the feeling, however. As Papillon, the world had felt more unstable, more jarring. He liked to be light on his feet and direct. But as Ouroboros, his natural path is more winding and surprising. He feels more weight to his movements, but they are ever-changing, weaving in and out between chimneys and over roof tiles. The long tails of his coat help him keep balance as he dashes and leaps behind Chat Noir.</p><p>Eventually, Chat Noir leads him to Ladybug. Ouroboros can’t help but tense up, used to seeing this pair in a much more hostile capacity. Part of him fears that this is all an elaborate set up to trap him, but as they stop in front of the spotted heroine, she breathes out a sigh of relief, looking far more weary than he is accustomed to seeing in their brief interactions.</p><p>“Thank goodness,” she says, and Ouroboros never thought he’d hear those words directed towards him. “This is getting out of control. I’m glad you’re here.” She extends her hand. “I’m Ladybug.”</p><p>He can’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. “Yes, I know who you are. You may call me Ouroboros.”</p><p>Her brows lift her mask in surprise. “That’s by far the most creative I’ve heard. And trust me, I’ve come across a few.” Ouroboros simply nods, hoping to get moving. “Anyway, first order of business,” she announces. “We have to track down Heartbreaker again. Though it shouldn’t be too difficult,” she says, gesturing below to the throngs of the heartless, following their leader in what has to be the most lackadaisical parade in history.</p><p>They follow the trail to its source, keeping up on the rooftops to avoid alerting Heartbreaker’s army, who remain mostly unaware if left unbothered. It isn’t long before they spot her in the middle of it all, swinging her mace around with a frustrated scowl.</p><p>“Do you have a plan?” Ouroboros asks, stopping the heroes before they can move in any closer.</p><p>Ladybug screws her mouth up sideways in an unsure grimace. “Not yet. We already know where her akuma is, but she’s such an adept fighter that even with my powers, we can’t beat her.” She looks at Ouroboros from the corner of her eye. “Chat said you know her well?”</p><p>“Yes,” he says. “She’s my—”</p><p>“Don’t tell me!” Ladybug exclaims, stopping him mid sentence. “I already know too much. It’s better if only one of us knows your identity, or you could become vulnerable to Papillon.”</p><p>He resists the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that <em> he </em>is Papillon and there is certainly no longer any risk with the miraculous now out of his grasp. Instead he just comments, “Very well,” and moves on. “What do you need me to do?”</p><p>“Hang back a bit,” Chat Noir interjects. “Don’t be too far, but don’t put yourself in the middle of the fight either. We need you to be observant and aware of good openings.”</p><p>“You know her better than either of us,” Ladybug adds. “I’m not going to tell you when to activate your Second Chance. If it was as simple as that, I’d have called back one of the people already familiar with this miraculous.” Her expression grows more serious. “You have to use your best judgement, Ouroboros. When you see a moment of weakness, that’s when you need to activate it. After that, you’ll only have—”</p><p>“Five minutes to turn back time. I know.”</p><p>“Good,” she says, nodding. “Once you do that, Chat and I will call for our powers. From there on, you’ll observe as best as possible so you can correct us when you turn back time.”</p><p>“Make sure you don’t get caught,” Chat warns. “No risky moves. If you can’t use your Second Chance… well, let’s just say this current courtship will be broken up.”</p><p>Ladybug rolls her eyes at the weak pun, and Ouroboros is inclined to do the same. “Okay, we’ve wasted enough time,” she says. “Chat, let’s go.” The two of them rush towards Heartbreaker, and Ouroborus approaches more slowly behind them.</p><p>The heroes have to go down to the street to confront Heartbreaker, and Ouroboros is forced to do the same in order to see. While the two of them fight against her, he pushes back the mass of “heartless” people around her. Luckily for him, their attacks are void of any passion or energy, and it’s only their sheer numbers that pose any kind of challenge at all. He is easily able to hold them off while observing the fight.</p><p>Not quite as luckily, Heartbreaker’s combat is just as impeccable as Nathalie’s is, with an added ferocity that he has never seen from her before. The heroes come at her with full force, but it doesn’t look like she is even breaking a sweat as she dodges attack after attack, getting in a few good swings of her own.</p><p>Ladybug and Chat Noir nod at each other, and they break apart. “Hey, goth girl,” Chat calls in a painfully obvious ruse to distract her. “The 90’s called. They want all of their everything-you’re-wearing back.”</p><p>“Is that the best you’ve got?” For a moment it seems like Heartbreaker’s response is directed towards Chat Noir, but on the last syllable, Heartbreaker spins, hitting Ladybug with a roundhouse kick as she attempts to sneak up from behind.</p><p>The heroes abandon that tactic and attempt to go full throttle on her again. But as Ouroboros is well aware of, Nathalie has been trained in multiple forms of martial arts. Her defenses are near-impenetrable, especially with powers and a weapon of her own. A typical akuma doesn’t know how to use what they’ve been given effectively enough against the heroes, but Heartbreaker has been made for this moment.</p><p>Ouroboros can see that the heroes are getting worn out, and quickly. After Chat Noir has a near miss with Heartbreaker’s mace, Ouroboros calls them back to them on his communicator before it can get worse.</p><p>Ladybug and Chat Noir rejoin him on a rooftop, sweaty and out of breath. “What’s going on, Ouroboros? Why didn’t you use Second Chance?” Ladybug asks, panting.</p><p>Ouroboros shakes his head. “It wouldn’t do any good. She has no weaknesses.”</p><p>“None?” Chat exclaims.</p><p>“That’s impossible,” Ladybug says. She rubs her forehead. “While I’m sure she’s very very good, there has to be something. Nobody is flawless. There must be a chink in her armor.”</p><p>“You won’t find it through traditional combat,” Ouroboros argues. “You need to catch her off her guard, or she’ll never lose.”</p><p>Chat Noir turns to Ladybug with a worried expression. “Milady…”</p><p>“Yes, Chat?”</p><p>“I know it’s risky, but maybe we need to use our powers before Ouroboros. If we really can surprise her and cause her to misstep, that might give us the opening we need.”</p><p>Ladybug hesitates, her practical nature clearly at odds with her partner’s reckless suggestion. “Okay. You’re right,” she caves in. “Let’s do it. Lucky Charm!”</p><p>A small, light object floats down, landing in Ladybug’s cupped hands.</p><p>“A flower? she exclaims. The blossom is large with four round petals. Ouroboros can’t imagine how it would be useful in combat, and Ladybug seems just as befuddled as he is.</p><p>“Any ideas, Bugaboo?” Chat Noir asks.</p><p>“None,” she says with a frustrated frown. She looks around at their environment. “I have no clue.” She scowls back down at the spotted flower in her hands. “Okay, plan B. Chat, you’re going to use your Cataclysm to try to get her mace. Something has to pop up, maybe an opportunity for distraction.”</p><p>“On it! Cataclysm!” Black energy manifests in his hand. “Here we go!” He leaps down, Ladybug following close behind.</p><p>“You again? Heartbreaker taunts the heroes. “All this fuss over protecting Gabriel Agreste. Do you realize he’s a rich, snobbish asshole?” Ouroboros’s face betrays a twitch of disagreement. “And a heartbreaker. He’s the real villain. Just let me have him, and this all will be over.”</p><p>“You don’t really want that, Nathalie,” Chat says. “Come on, give it up.”</p><p>Ouroboros observes carefully as the fight continues. Even with Chat Noir’s powers of destruction, Heartbreaker is largely unfazed by his attacks. She moves to the defensive, no longer allowing him to come close to her mace, but it’s clear that she still has the upper hand. Chat is careful not to risk hitting her with his Cataclysm, and she is well aware of it. She uses her body as a shield for her akuma, forcing Chat Noir to pull his punches.</p><p>Ladybug is equally struggling, fighting where she can but failing to come up with a use for her Lucky Charm. Ouroboros can see how she is frustrated as the fight drags on for a long time, too long. Without any progress being made at all, her earrings beep in warning.</p><p>“I don’t have much time before I transform back,” she gasps into the communicators. </p><p>“Go recharge,” Ouroboros tells her. “I’ll help hold her off in the meantime.”</p><p>“Be careful,” she warns on her way out. “Don’t let Heartbreaker start Second Chance on you.”</p><p>For the most part, Ouroboros stays back, allowing Chat Noir to take the main offensive position. He only darts in to deliver a few of his own attacks when the hero seems to wear out, or is caught off guard by Heartbreaker.</p><p>His lyre is certainly not as effective of a weapon as his staff, but he does find it to have some use, especially as Heartbreaker’s mace is temporarily caught in its strings. It does well enough to hold her off until Ladybug returns to the fight, freshly charged up.</p><p>“Okay, let’s try this again,” she says. “Lucky Charm!”</p><p>The same flower falls into her hands.</p><p>“Oh, no, <em> again?” </em> she moans. “What is this trying to tell me?”</p><p>“We’ll figure it out,” Ouroboros cuts in. “Chat Noir has less than a minute left.”</p><p>“Go, Chat. Feed your kwami and come back quick,” she instructs him, and he leaps away without even a quip.</p><p>Chat’s Cataclysm being gone means that Heartbreaker plays offence again. It’s a bit harder to hold her off, especially with Ladybug guarding her Lucky Charm from her grasp. It becomes a new game of keepaway, Heartbreaker dividing her attention between trying to get the spotted flower and trying to mess with Ouroboros’s miraculous in an attempt to start his countdown.</p><p>As if the situation wasn’t dire enough, Ouroboros freezes as he notices a new figure up ahead that will certainly complicate matters. He mutters, <em> “Merde,” </em>just in time to come to his senses and dodge a swing of Heartbreaker’s mace.</p><p>“What? What is it?” Ladybug asks.</p><p>He doesn’t end up having to answer, as the newcomer makes her presence quickly known. “Heartbreaker,” the new Butterfly villain barks. “You told me this would be over quickly. It’s been a week and you still haven’t given me what I’ve asked for!”</p><p>“Who are <em> you?” </em>Ladybug exclaims. “You’re not Papillon!”</p><p>“No,” she says with a smug grin. “I’m something better than that old loser. My name is Monarch.”</p><p>The name matches the attire well. Monarch wears an elaborate lace domino mask, coupled with a silver tiara on top of brown ringlets. As impractical as it is, she wears a voluminous dress of purple scalloped fabric, fading to orange in an obnoxiously vibrant ombre. The scalloped, layered fabric of the skirt is at least split in the middle for better movement, showing black leggings underneath with silver boots.</p><p>Ouroboros is sure that the girl thinks she looks expensive and regal, but personally, he finds the look to be tacky. If it wasn’t for the miraculous pinned at her throat, he wouldn’t have known at all that she was meant to be the Butterfly’s holder.</p><p>“What happened to the old Papillon?” Ladybug whispers, but neither Monarch or Heartbreaker seem keen on discussing that topic.</p><p>“I’ve been more successful than any akuma thus far,” Heartbreaker argues. “They haven’t been able to defeat me yet. But they are keeping me from my revenge.”</p><p>“So get your revenge later,” Monarch snaps. “I gave you these powers so you would give me the miraculous. Payment is due now.”</p><p>“But—”</p><p><em> “Now,” </em>Monarch insists. A mask of purple light forms over her eyes, mirrored on Heartbreaker.</p><p>“Yes, Monarch,” Heartbreaker agrees, subdued.</p><p>Ouroboros wonders if he should activate his Second Chance, but he decides against it. Even though Heartbreaker seems more vulnerable than before, Monarch is an added complication that they hadn’t accounted for. But surprisingly, most of his frustration with her is not due to her stealing the miraculous from him in the first place, but using it to control Nathalie now.</p><p>Ouroboros and Ladybug split in order to deal with their new opponent. He runs over to Heartbreaker while she approaches Monarch. He mentally counts down Ladybug’s remaining time in his head, worried that once again, she’ll be forced to recharge, as she only has four minutes left on the clock. He hopes that Chat Noir will show up soon and somehow turn the tide.</p><p>Instead, their situation only gets worse. “Heartbreaker,” a chorus of people chant listlessly behind him, startling him. He spins around to see a large group of Heartbreaker’s victims. His heart jumps into his throat as he spots his own son held by them.</p><p>“Adrien, what are you doing here?” he exclaims, paying little mind to the fact that he’s just given away a clue to his identity. His shock burns through him like buzzing electricity. “Release him!”</p><p>The group ignores him. “We’ve caught Adrien Agreste,” they announce. All their discordant voices speaking simultaneously send shivers through him.</p><p>“Excellent!” Monarch croons, even as Heartbreaker grows stiff. “We’ll use him as ransom to get Gabriel later. And why stop there? I bet our oh-so-honorable Ladybug wouldn’t want to see darling Adrien hurt.”</p><p>“No,” Heartbreaker growls out, so quietly that Ouroboros isn’t sure that she’s said it at all.</p><p>“What?” Monarch challenges.</p><p>“I said no!” Heartbreaker shouts, turning towards her. Ouroboros’s spirits soar as Nathalie’s personality finally surfaces in Heartbreaker. “He is not a pawn to be used in this fight. Let him go,” she orders her army. Ouroboros holds his breath, waiting for what happens next. The crowd slowly releases their hold on Adrien, and once enough of their fingers slip away, he wrenches himself away from them and runs.</p><p>Ouroboros can’t help but smile. He’s sure he’s beaming at Heartbreaker like an absolute fool, but he can’t stop himself from reacting to the proof that even under extreme duress, Nathalie would never hurt his son.</p><p>He knows now, more than ever before, that he needs to bring her back to him, for real.  </p><p>“What have you done?” Monarch shrieks. “Bring him back!” she yells at the crowd, but they ignore her, allowing Adrien to weave between them until he’s out of sight. “Heartbreaker, you’ve lost us the only leverage we have! Listen to me!”</p><p>“No,” she grits. Even in her black eyes, Ouroboros can see a trace of humanity for the first time. “I won’t put him in danger.”</p><p>“I <em> order </em>you to tell your army to retrieve him!” Monarch shouts back, looking crazed, and Ouroboros has a fleeting thought wondering whether he had ever come across as this level of insane. However, he quickly refocuses as the glowing mask reforms over Monarch and Heartbreaker’s eyes.</p><p>However, Heartbreaker’s flickers unsteadily. “I. Will. Not!” She breaks free of Monarch’s control and rushes at her with vengeance and fury.</p><p>On a gut impulse, sudden, but so strong it’s impossible to ignore, Ouroboros pulls back the mechanism in his miraculous and says, “Second Chance.” The countdown begins with little fanfare, activating right at the moment that Heartbreaker manages to bury her mace in Monarch’s chest.</p><p>Chat Noir jumps back up onto the rooftop, right in time to witness Heartbreaker growling, “Now <em> you </em>know how it feels.”</p><p>Monarch collapses onto her knees, instantly crying out in pain while clutching her chest. “No, make it stop!” she sobs. “It’s not fair!”</p><p>Heartbreaker backs away, disoriented. Ouroboros, Ladybug, and Chat Noir all look at each other in alarm, knowing they have limited time to finish this once and for all.</p><p>“With Monarch incapacitated, we can worry about Heartbreaker for now,” Ladybug says, twirling her yoyo around in preparation. “Ouroboros, stand back and observe, and use your power when the time is right. Chat and I will take her down.”</p><p>“Go ahead,” he nods.</p><p>The heroes rush toward Heartbreaker with their weapons ready. As soon as she spots them incoming, she seems to snap out of her dazed state, taking up a fighting stance once more.</p><p>Ouroboros gets a sinking feeling as the battle picks up just as it had left off. The heroes are at no greater advantage than before, leading to a stalemate. Once again, Heartbreaker is able to push the heroes to their limits, and even worse, Ladybug’s earrings continue to count down: three minutes left, two minutes left, one minute left.</p><p>It becomes clear that they’re not going to defeat Heartbreaker in time, and they still haven’t discovered a use for the Lucky Charm. “I’m going to detransform,” she yells, and knowing they won’t defeat Heartbreaker, Ouroboros sighs, “Second Chance,” in disappointment, turning back time.</p><p>Monarch is hit in the chest with Heartbreaker’s mace. Ouroboros turns to Ladybug and Chat Noir, announcing, “This is the second attempt.”</p><p>“You mean…?” Chat Noir asks, eyes wide.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Did you notice anything that could help us?” Ladybug asks.</p><p>Ouroboros watches Monarch out of the corner of his eye as she falls to her knees. “You tried to take Heartbreaker by surprise, and it broke her out of this uncertainty,” he says, gesturing towards her as she falters backwards, looking lost. “Try a slower approach.”</p><p>They prowl towards her, like predators trying not to startle their prey. Heartbreaker stares at them, unmoving, and Ouroboros’s hopes rise. She is certainly more subdued than previously.</p><p>But that all falls apart in the next moment. As soon as Ladybug reaches out to touch her, Heartbreaker ends her unnatural stillness, lunging at her. In only a second, she has managed to tangle Ladybug up in the string of her own yoyo, and Chat Noir fights back alone.</p><p><em> “Merde,” </em>Ouroboros whispers, readying his powers. Not all is lost yet, but it doesn’t look good with only one hero left standing.</p><p>But Chat Noir is full of surprises. With a quick extension of his staff, he manages to knock Heartbreaker’s mace out of her hands. Without Heartbreaker’s powers, they find themselves on a more even playing field. Their combat becomes quicker, more hand-to-hand.</p><p>Chat Noir lands a few good punches. But as he goes in for another, Heartbreaker grabs his wrist with surprising strength. He tries to free himself, face wrenching up in discomfort as Heartbreaker’s hold on him increases.</p><p>“You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long,” she snaps. “Let’s find out who you really are.”</p><p>“No!” Ladybug cries, struggling against her bonds. “Chat!”</p><p>Ouroboros knows that he should be equally eager to find out Chat Noir’s identity, but he is filled with a sudden dread, an instinctual need to turn his head and squeeze his eyes shut.</p><p>“Second Chance,” he says, right as Ladybug exclaims, “Oh my god, it was you this whole time!” Heartbreaker is suspiciously silent.</p><p>He opens his eyes, and Heartbreaker’s mace falls into Monarch’s chest.</p><p>“Third attempt,” he informs them, struggling to shake off his whirlwind of thoughts and feelings.</p><p>“You mean...?”</p><p>He doesn’t answer Chat’s question this time, instead jumping right into a new plan. “You can’t come at her together; she’s too quick. Try to divide and conquer. I’ll provide a distraction. Chat, protect your ring.” The hero pales, and Ouroboros sighs, “Don’t ask. And no, I didn’t see.”</p><p>Chat takes the long way around while Ladybug creeps in. Before Heartbreaker can notice either of them, Ouroboros plays a few tuneless strums on his lute, drawing her attention. She starts towards him with a twirl of her mace, only to be cut off by the heroes.</p><p>They definitely have the upper hand this time, and although Ouroboros stands ready to take them back in time again, he feels much better about their prospects in this scenario. Heartbreaker struggles to keep up, nearly losing her mace multiple times. Although the heroes are worn down by her, for once she seems equally strained.</p><p>She shoots an elbow out to stop Chat Noir from hitting her with his staff, and as she does so, it leaves her vulnerable to Ladybug’s attack. The yoyo darts out, catching the mace and pulling it away from her. Heartbreaker turns back to Ladybug and tackles her. Ladybug loses the hold on the string, and both yoyo and mace fly wildly.</p><p>Ouroboros blinks, realizing a bit too late that its trajectory is headed directly towards him. “Second Chance!” he shouts as the weapon sails right between his eyes.</p><p>He gasps, brought back just in the nick of time. He gulps in air as Monarch falls to her knees again.</p><p>Chat waves his hand in front of his face.</p><p>Ladybug asks, “Did you just—?”</p><p>“Yes,” he manages. “Fourth attempt. Not a good one.”</p><p>Both the heroes slump their shoulders.</p><p>“It was close,” he says, more determined than ever to end this, now that his heart has calmed down. “Just one more advantage, and I think we can manage it. Let me help,” he suggests, feeling that his disengagement is at the root of the problem.</p><p>Ladybug looks unsurely at Chat Noir.</p><p>“I’ll attempt to stay out of the fray for the most part,” he promises.</p><p>Ladybug nods. “Okay, then. What do we do?”</p><p>“Divide and conquer. I’ll provide an initial distraction. Chat, watch your ring. No, I didn’t see,” he finishes before Chat Noir even fully registers what he is saying.</p><p>Ouroboros gives them a push along, not wanting to waste any more time. Once again, Chat takes an indirect path to Heartbreaker’s other side while Ladybug approaches slowly from her corner.</p><p>Ouroboros strums his lute in the same spot as before, making sure to move aside as soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir start in. He decides to let the fight play out exactly the same as the previous near-success, the only difference being that he stands far away from where the mace flew before.</p><p>Exactly as last time, Ladybug and Chat Noir manage to wear Heartbreaker down and weaken her defenses. Eventually, she blocks a swing of Chat Noir’s staff, and Ladybug takes the opportunity to grab her mace with her yoyo. Ouroboros decides to play his lute again as a distraction, but Heartbreaker doesn’t fall for it a second time. She tackles Ladybug, and both yoyo and mace are flung aside, thankfully far away from where Ouroboros stands this time.</p><p>Immediately, all combatants lunge for it. Unfortunately enough, Chat has more distance to cover than the rest of them, and Heartbreaker keeps Ladybug down for a second longer with an elbow to the face.</p><p>“Ow,” Ladybug complains, scrambling to her feet, but the time has cost her dearly. Heartbreaker successfully grabs her weapon and engages Chat in battle again. In just a moment, she manages to trip him up and hit him with her mace.</p><p>He collapses to the ground, wailing. “Why? Why?”</p><p>“Chat, no!” Ladybug exclaims, no longer paying attention to Heartbreaker as she sets her eyes on her hurting partner.</p><p>Ouroboros sighs, already ready to turn back the clock again as Ladybug is taken down as well.</p><p>Something gives him pause, however. He barely registers Ladybug’s own cries of pain as her Lucky Charm, the four-petaled blossom, floats down from her hands, looking terribly familiar.</p><p>As it hits the ground, he finally recognizes what it is: a flower from a dogwood tree. Now that he sees it unobstructed, its shape is undeniable with its four large, round petals. Even patterned with ladybug spots, it is unmistakable.</p><p>Nathalie loves the dogwood trees scattered in the yard. He knows that she is quite fond of the beauty they bring in the fall, when all the other plants have long lost their bloom. But even more significant than that, he is instantly reminded of the daydreams he’s been having — beautiful visions of sitting peacefully in the garden with Nathalie under the shelter of trees with these very blossoms.</p><p>He knows what he has to do.</p><p>“Second Chance.”</p><p>Ouroboros is filled with an odd, all-encompassing calmness this time around. He pays no mind to Monarch as he informs the heroes, “I know what to do.” He holds out his hand for the flower. “If you please?”</p><p>Ladybug places it into his palm. “How many times now?”</p><p>“Five. I know what this is for now. It’s not for either of you, but for me.”</p><p>“What?” Chat exclaims.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Ladybug presses.</p><p>“I’m certain,” he assures them. “The two of you should deal with Monarch. I will handle Heartbreaker. Just be ready to take the akuma once I get it from her.”</p><p>He strides away from them, confident in what he has to do. “Nathalie,” he says.</p><p>Heartbreaker startles out of her stupor, looking at him sharply. “Slippery snake.”</p><p>He looks down at himself, shielded in every way by the miraculous. He furrows his brow. Miraculous have stood between Nathalie and him for too long. The only way to win now is to open himself up to her.</p><p>“Scales rest.”</p><p>“G—Gabriel Agreste?” Ladybug shrieks, but Heartbreaker’s whispered “Gabriel?” resonates a thousand times louder. He can see her breath catch in her throat as the last of his transformation melts away.</p><p>She shakes her head, black eyes scrunched shut. “No, my name is Heartbreaker.”</p><p>“Uh, F—Mister Agreste,” Chat Noir mutters. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”</p><p>Gabriel ignores him. “Nathalie,” he repeats, holding out his hand. She takes a cautious, tottering step towards him. “Come back to me.”</p><p>“Why should I?” she asks, for once appearing more deflated than angry. “What could you offer me? You’re not in love with me.”</p><p>“I’m not,” he agrees. Her brow flicks down with scrutiny. “But I could try.”</p><p>She looks skyward, trembling. “Try all you like; I know you’re incapable of it.”</p><p>“I think you’ll find I’m full of surprises, my dear.” He takes another step forward, and then another, until he is close enough to bring a gentle, soothing hand to her shoulder. He is aware that he is within swinging distance of Heartbreaker’s mace, but he knows that he will have to exhibit trust to win this. He strokes the bare skin of her arm with his thumb, and she allows him to continue. “I’m only now realizing the romantic nature of my feelings for you, but regardless, you mean a lot to me, Nathalie.”</p><p>A black tear runs down her cheek. “How?”</p><p>“You’ve been there for me at my very worst. You’ve been a confidant, a partner, and a friend, all at a time when I needed it most. I’ve been blind to how much you’ve done for me, but I appreciate it now. And I appreciate your level of care for Adrien. I know it can’t have been easy to go against Monarch’s orders, but you saved him from terrible danger.” He pauses before revealing, “He thinks of you as family. And so do I.”</p><p>Her tears are running down steadily now, tracing rivers of black down her cheeks. The darkness in her eyes has become translucent, showing white and blue in what lies behind the shadowy mask. “How can I trust you again? I want to, but this is so hard to fight, and you’ve given me so little reason to—”</p><p>“I know,” he says. “And I’m sorry for everything that led to this. I was foolish, especially in thinking I had nothing left to lose. Losing you has been one of the worst losses I’ve ever had to deal with.”</p><p>“Gabriel…”</p><p>“Did you see Ladybug’s Lucky Charm?”</p><p>Heartbreaker shakes her head, curls brushing across her shoulders.</p><p>Gabriel opens his free hand to show her the blossom in his hand. “I know you love the dogwood trees outside the house. I’ve associated them with you for a long time now. And recently, I’ve been having daydreams. I see the two of us sitting under those beautiful trees in the garden, and I picture a flower drifting down to land on your head, like this,” he says, bringing the flower down from above to rest atop her head. “I pluck it off,” he continues, doing so, “and I hand it to you. And it feels… like something I haven’t felt in a long time.</p><p>“I can’t promise you we’ll be together our whole lives. I can’t even promise I’ll fall in love with you,” he tells her. “But I can promise that I will try. And that I want to, if you’re willing to let me.”</p><p>Her tears are starting to clear up, leaving her beautiful crystal blue eyes in the place of the darkness that dwelled there before. Gabriel extends the flower to her, and with a shaking hand, she accepts it.</p><p>She holds her mace out to him by the handle. “Take it,” she gasps.</p><p>He does, and quickly, not wanting to test the window of opportunity he’s been given. “Chat,” he calls, holding it out.</p><p>“Cataclysm.” Heartbreaker doesn’t even flinch as the hero brings his energy-filled hand to the mace, causing it to crumble. Her hard persona melts away, bringing Nathalie back to life.</p><p>“I’m sorry; I need that,” Ladybug says to her, plucking the flower from her confounded fingers. “Miraculous Ladybug!”</p><p>The cure washes over, restoring order. Nathalie looks around herself in alarm as the pink sparkles pieces the world back together.</p><p>“Gabriel, where are we? What happened?” she pleads, stumbling towards him as she looks fearfully over the edge of the rooftop.</p><p>He reaches out to steady her, taking her gently by the arms. His heart swells, overwhelmed with gratitude at having her back.</p><p>Her eyes widen. “I was akumatized. I became—”</p><p>“Heartbreaker,” he supplies.</p><p>She stops, breath pausing with her. “Oh, god,” she finally gasps, burying her face in her hands.</p><p>He blinks, realizing that like typical akuma victims, Nathalie remembers none of what has surpassed. For all she knows, Gabriel has offered her no reassurance whatsoever. He knows her deepest secret and there’s nothing she can do to change that.</p><p>In Nathalie’s mind, he’s promised her nothing. If he wanted to, he could walk away now.</p><p>But he finds that he doesn’t want to.</p><p>“Nathalie,” he murmurs. He frames her face with his hands, tilts her head up, and kisses her tenderly on the forehead.</p><p>Tears bead in her eyes. “I don’t understand.”</p><p>He frowns, not knowing quite how to explain the journey he has been on over the past week. He slots his fingers between hers and squeezes her hand. “I’m currently coming to terms with many facts that I was unaware of before,” he says. “Your feelings for me. My growing feelings for you.” She lets out a little gasp. “I don’t know quite what to make of them yet, but… will you give me a chance? Can we see where this leads us?”</p><p>She covers her mouth, eyes lighting up beyond what he’s ever seen before. “That’s all I ever wanted.”</p><p>“Good,” he says curtly, suddenly embarrassed. He can feel the blush on his cheeks radiating out, probably visible all the way from outer space. But he pushes the feeling aside and wraps a protective arm around her. “You must be exhausted. Let’s go home.”</p><p>“Yes. Please,” she sighs. </p><p>Gabriel glances over to Ladybug and Chat Noir, hands full as they deal with Monarch, now unmasked, who turns out to be a very disgruntled Lila Rossi. The girl looks at Gabriel with narrowed eyes, and he turns his nose up, as she’s fallen out of his good graces.</p><p>Some old habits die hard.</p><p>Speaking of which, he spots Ladybug holding both the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous. There is a small yearning that crops up in him, but a different kind of want forces him to push it back down. He looks to Chat Noir instead, avoiding the temptation.</p><p>He’s lucky that the Snake doesn’t seem to call out to him with the same addictive qualities. “Stop by later to pick this up?” Gabriel suggests, tilting his bracelet out so that the hero knows what he is referring to.</p><p>Chat Noir hesitates for a moment, but then Ms. Rossi tries to elbow him in the ribs. He shoots her a glare and gives Gabriel a quick, “Yeah.”</p><p>He doesn’t need any more prompting. “Sass, scales slither.” Nathalie looks at him in awe as he turns back to Ouroboros once more.</p><p>“Come, dear,” he says, offering his arms to her. He picks her up, and she settles in, a perfect fit. “Shall we?”</p><p>Nathalie stays the night. She and Gabriel pass most of the evening, night, and wee hours of the morning having a deep conversation in the atelier, finally getting on the same page about their feelings for one another and how they should proceed. At some point, Chat Noir comes along to collect the Snake, and surprisingly, Gabriel is filled with a sense of relief as the miraculous leaves his possession.</p><p>Gabriel takes the opportunity to finally ask some burning questions that have been nagging at him for the week that Nathalie has been gone. After some small talk, he finally builds himself up enough to ask, “How long have you been in love with me?”</p><p>Nathalie blushes and looks away, embarrassed, but also clearly delighted at the same time. “Almost since the beginning.”</p><p>“Since we met?”</p><p>“Oh, no,” she clarifies. “From the time that we started… this. Trying to get the miraculous.”</p><p>Gabriel blinks, at a total loss as to how a beautiful, intelligent woman like Nathalie could find being a supervillain to be a desirable trait. “Why?” he exclaims.</p><p>To his surprise, she smiles softly. “Your devotion to your family moved me. I wanted more than anything for you to succeed.”</p><p>“Even though it would hurt you,” he marvels.</p><p>She looks down. “The reality of that didn’t sink in until later. At that point, I was in too deep.”</p><p>The atmosphere now feels far too heavy, having shifted from happier topics. Gabriel redirects the conversation, feeling brave enough to tell her, “Your care of Adrien holds great meaning for me.”</p><p>“He’s a very special child,” she says. “I’ve grown quite fond of him.”</p><p>“He feels the same towards you.” He pauses, giving his words a moment to sink in. “You saved him today.”</p><p>“I did?” she asks, shocked. “How? Why was he anywhere near—?”</p><p>“They came for him here at home and brought him to you, thinking you’d use him as ransom. Ms. Rossi thought that was a wonderful idea.”</p><p>Nathalie purses her lips. “She didn’t have Adrien’s best interests in mind after all.”</p><p>“No,” Gabriel agress. “But you were entirely against it, even while akumatized. You ordered his release and turned on her.” He leans in earnestly. “Nathalie, because of you, Monarch is defeated. There will be no more supervillains.”</p><p>Something sad flickers in her eyes. “I’m so sorry. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t lost them in the first place.”</p><p>“Don’t be sorry,” he says, covering her hand with his own. He finally appreciates what a gift they have been given, even if he wasn’t ready to receive it at first. “It was time.” As she relaxes under his touch, he softens his gaze and lets it drift around the room contemplatively.</p><p>Sunrise now dapples orange light across the ground, and Nathalie’s eyelids droop, not for the first time. “I believe it’s time to sleep,” he suggests, helping her to her feet.</p><p>She gives him a rueful twitch of the lips. “I’m almost afraid to. Do you promise this will all still be real when I wake up?”</p><p>He leaves her at the guest room with a goodnight kiss on the cheek. “I promise.”</p><p>It is all too easy to keep to his word. As he and Nathalie become closer and closer, it feels as natural to Gabriel as breathing, and in some ways, he can’t believe that it hasn’t been like this all along. Every time he stands close to her, or touches her shoulder, or sweeps back her hair, it is another shock to realize just how much he’s been holding himself back from for so long.</p><p>Slowly, summer fades into fall, and as the first leaves begin to turn, Gabriel realizes that his heart has changed color, too. It’s undeniable that his affection for Nathalie has grown into love. As they stand outside near the end of an uneventful day of work, Gabriel decides to make the next big move, and he kisses her on the lips for the first time.</p><p>She smiles against his mouth, gentle and sweet. They eventually pull apart and interlock their fingers, blushing like schoolchildren as they venture down the stairs together.</p><p>They walk for a bit before settling down in a quiet spot in the garden, spending time in comfortable silence with each other. Leaves rustle in the breeze, matching the calm tempo of late afternoon. A few errant petals drift down through the air.</p><p>Nathalie nestles herself into Gabriel’s side, her arm intertwined with his. He looks at her fondly, and she drops her head lovingly onto his shoulder. He raises his hand to pull a gentle finger across her cheek as a flower from the dogwood tree floats down to land in her lap.</p><p>The clouds hang overhead, and the air is cooler than it was at the end of summer. But as Nathalie gives his arm a gentle squeeze, bright rays of sun fill Gabriel’s heart.</p><p>❤️</p><p>
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